Abingdon News on your door step

Deliveries
The September 2020 edition of Round & About, and the Autumn 2020 edition of the Town Crier were delivered to a lot of houses in Abingdon yesterday.

These magazines have been posted through our door for at least twenty years. The Town Crier did stop for a couple of years, but is back again thanks to the 2019-2023 Town Council. One of the councillors told me it was brought back because not everybody can be reached by the internet.

The Town Crier comprises news and events from Abingdon-on_Thames Town Council.

2 pages have news on the Neighbourhood Plan, whose start has been put back by the pandemic. Consultants will start by reaching out to the ‘brilliant Coronavirus Response Teams” and hope to use the 400 street contact volunteers to help in setting up local consultation exercises (using video conferencing) that together will form a picture of life in Abingdon.

There is a page on CIL – the Community Infrastructure Levy. It is the charge local councils can make on building developments. The Town Council is consulting on its CIL policy and would welcome responses by 25th September. If the Town Council gets a Neighbourhood Plan in place they will get 25% instead of 15% of CIL money for the town. Currently the largest amount goes to the County Council (for education and roads), followed by the District Council, and then the Town Council.

There is a page on Heritage Weekend on 19th and 20th September. A lot of this will be films about Abingdon’s historic heritage or self guided tours. More about that at https://abingdonheritage.org.uk/

There is to be a public consultation on the Radley Lakes masterplan. A socially distanced event will happen at Thrupp Lake on Sunday 20th September 1pm – 5pm.

The museum reopening (September 5th) and the council’s virtual events page are also mentioned.

Round & About also has news on Heritage Open Days. There are pages of ‘Disjointed Rambling’ with news and upcoming events.

From them I learned that Oxford Wood Recycling in Suffolk Way have been given a £250,000 award from the People’s Postcode Lottery. Oxford Wood Recycling are a social enterprise that stop good wood being wasted, and provide volunteering and employment opportunities.

The Atom Society have an online talk on 17th September. The talk is titled: Natural Light and Fresh Air: The Ultimate Human Drugs?

Martin Buckland is doing a talk via ZOOM on 21st September for the Radley History Club on The Wilts and Berks Canal: Past, Present and Future.

There is lots more if you read your Round & About.

High Street Signs in Abingdon

According to Wikipedia High Street is the most common street name in the UK. It beats Station Road and Main Street by a long way.

Abingdon has a High Street. Looking today I saw three High Street signs. The first, near the Market Place, was from the days when Abingdon was a borough – before the local government reorganisation in 1974.

That end of the High Street is mostly banks and estate agencies.

The next sign, at the junction of West St Helen Street, has T over a dot. Did this look good in the days when shorthand was in vogue?

At the other end the High Street sign is black with smudgy white lettering.

The Vale of White Horse District Council has been in existence, making Abingdon’s street signs, since 1974. They have stamped their logo on signs for many other roads around Abingdon but have left the old signs on the historic High Street.

At the other end of the High Street are mostly pubs. The Grapes has a sign offering the government scheme of Eat Out to Help Out. Over the road The Narrows has a door with the sign Exit Only. It is part of their one way system to stop the spread of the virus.

Wells Stores Today

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Wells
Wells Stores has been at Peachcroft Farm for over twenty years. Before that Wells Stores was in Stert Street.

I met Jim on the way home today and he remembered the Stert Street store. He remembered the smell of all those cheeses, and the interesting groceries you didn’t see in other shops.
Wells
Now to get to Wells Store you pass hundreds of turkeys in a field on one side. There is an allotment, looked after by the grow your own vegetables community group, and a craft shop. Beyond that are the barns and farm buildings.
Wells
I walked round the fruit and vegetables in the farm shop and put some tomatoes and plums in brown paper bags.
Wells
The Wells Farm Shop cheese cooler cabinet has a selection of cheddars and other British Cheeses direct from the makers.

As you wait on the social distance markers, there are a range of interesting cakes, crackers and chutneys and homemade jams. There are also salads and quiches and pastries in the second cooler cabinet.

Jim also said that, before Stert Street, Wells Stores had been a village shop in Streatley. Wells Farm Shop has more of their interesting history.

Carriageway Resurfacing between sunset and sunrise (for 3 nights) at the double mini roundabout

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There have been a flurry of comments already about the carriageway resurfacing works at the double mini roundabout from September 3rd. This is for three nights between sunset and sunrise.

A letter went out to some residents saying ‘”…traffic from the A415 Marcham Road can pass through the works into the B4017 Drayton Road during all three shifts. No other manoeuvres will be possible, and this will be controlled by a set of two-way traffic lights. Diversions will be in place for anybody wanting to access Spring Road or Ock Street.’

This explains some but not all possible journeys through this complex junction.
sunset
Here is the sunset last night – viewed from West St Helen Street,
sunrise
and here is the sunrise this morning – viewed from St Helen’s Wharf.